[from Gary Cziko 940503.1336 GMT]
I couldn't resist passing this on to the net for those who have not already
seen it.
So it appears that nicotine may already by a "controlled substance!"--Gary
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NEW YORK (AP) -- People who smoke cigarettes labeled low in tar
and nicotine inhale deeper and harder, taking in more of the
substances than they think, The New York Times reported Monday.
Machines that measure levels of nicotine and tar in cigarettes
do not accurately reflect how much a smoker inhales, the newspaper
said.
Federal officials and health experts say smokers of so-called
``light'' cigarettes often puff harder or draw deeper to compensate
for the mildness.
``We know that consumers do not smoke in exactly the same manner
as the machine,'' said Judith D. Wilkenfeld, assistant director in
the Federal Trade Commission's Division of Advertising Practices.
Cigarettes that are labeled low in tar and nicotine now account
for 60 percent of cigarettes sold in this country.
Tests are performed by tobacco company laboratories under the
supervision of the FTC. Machines hold the cigarette and draw air
through it in two-second puffs, repeating the puffs once every
minute until the cigarette burns to the filter.
But scientific studies over recent years have shown that smokers
get the same amount of nicotine no matter what cigarette they
smoke, the Times reported. The same is true of tar.
``A smoker can draw 3 milligrams of nicotine out of a cigarette
that is rated as a 1 milligram yield by the FTC test,'' Dr. Jack E.
Henningfield, chief of clinical pharmacology research at the
National Institutes on Drug Abuse, told the newspaper.
Giving smokers more accurate information on how much tar and
nicotine are in a cigarette would help reduce smoking in the United
States, said Dr. Neal Benowitz, a professor of medicine at the
University of California at San Francisco and an expert on smoking.
The federal government blames 400,000 deaths a year on smoking,
but cigarette makers deny there is proof cigarettes cause lung
cancer, heart disease or other ailments for which smoking has been
blamed.
At hearings last month before the House Energy and Commerce
health subcommittee, the heads of the nation's seven largest
tobacco companies denied accusations that they manipulate the
amount of nicotine in cigarettes and also denied that nicotine is
addictive.
The Food and Drug Administration is considering whether to
regulate cigarettes.